Steady State Health

Free Guide

A new pain showed up on your run. Here's your next move.

You're not sure what to do about a pain that just popped up. That's why we built the Injured Runner's Roadmap. It helps you make the call: keep running, back off, or get it checked out.

The Injured Runner's Roadmap

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“This is insane! Thanks a ton for creating this. Did you just create the greatest ever pain/injury guide of all time? Looks like it.”

— Colin Pope

Inside: the six pain patterns we see most in runners, and a green, yellow, and red self-check that tells you which one you're dealing with.

Written by physical therapists who run and race themselves.

Our method

How we read a running injury

Almost every running pain we see comes down to one of six patterns. It's the same framework we use in our clinic.

A Steady State physical therapist filming a runner's gait on the treadmill

01 · Tendon

Tendon load

Achilles, plantar fascia, hamstring pain that warms up early in a run then aches again afterward. This kind usually responds to graded loading.

02 · Joint

Joint load

Deep ache in the knee or hip that builds with mileage and stairs, usually a question of how much load the joint is handling and how fast you increased it.

03 · Muscle

Muscle strain

Calf, hamstring, or quad that grabs mid-stride. The guide shows you when it's a minor tweak and when it could be a strain that needs time off.

04 · Bone

Bone stress

Point-specific pain that gets worse run over run. This is the one we take most seriously, because it's the one you often shouldn't run through.

05 · Stability

Joint stability

Ankle, toe, or knee pain that feels loose or gives way on uneven ground. Often it's a strength gap, not real instability. The guide helps you know which.

06 · Nerve

Nerve symptoms

Burning, tingling, or numbness that runs down your leg. The guide helps you spot when it's nerve and not muscle, because the two may need different fixes.

The self-check

The stoplight check

Every pattern in the guide ends with a simple stoplight check so you always know your likely best move.

Green

Keep training and adjust your training load. The pain is mild, settles during your runs, and you wake up fine.

Yellow

Modify and watch for a week. Pain lingers after you stop or shows up earlier each run.

Red

Pause and talk to a PT. Sharp, point-specific, or worsening pain, potentially with night symptoms.

The Steady State Health team on the Eastern Promenade in Portland, Maine
Steady State Health

Dr. Kelton Cullenberg

PT, DPT · Founder

"We're runners first, so we treat you the way we'd want to be treated. With most running injuries, the worst thing you can do is nothing, so we keep you moving while we help you figure out the root cause."

Why trust this roadmap

Where runners go when something hurts

Steady State is a team of PTs who have all trained and raced their whole lives. The advice in this guide comes from the same people you'd see if you worked with us.

  • A running-only practice. We treat runners all day, every day. You learn fast which pains are fine to train through and which ones bite you if you wait.
  • Patterns we see every week. The six in this guide are the ones that come through the clinic most, in person and virtually.
  • Coach and clinician in one. Our virtual PTs do physical therapy, run coaching, and strength work all in one. So your plan is built around your whole training, with the injury treated as part of it.

Skip the wait

Talk to a running PT now, free for 20 minutes.

You'll still get the roadmap. But if a pain's bugging you and you'd rather talk to someone now, book a free 20-minute call with one of our running PTs. Tell us what's going on, and you'll leave knowing exactly what to do.

Twenty minute free individual conversation to build you a game plan.

Schedule a call